On the evening of October 30, information appeared on the website of Poland's Constitutional Tribunal (the equivalent of a constitutional court) about the appointment of a new chairman, Anna Korwin-Piotrowska. Her candidacy was supported by three judges close to Prime Minister Donald Tusk: Maciej Taborowski, Magdalena Bentkowska and Maciej Berek. Immediately afterwards, Korwin-Piotrowska suspended from duty her predecessor, Bogdan Swieczkowski, and his deputy, Bartlomiej Sochanski, who are loyal to President Karol Nawrocki.
At the same moment, a statement appeared on the Constitutional Tribunal's profile on the X platform: "The official website has been illegally seized; Swieczkowski remains chairman, and Sochanski remains vice-chairman. Anna Korwin-Piotrowska is not a judge of the Constitutional Tribunal. <...> All persons involved in these actions are criminals who have committed an attempted coup d'etat."
Nevertheless, the three judges supporting Tusk insist that the personnel changes were carried out in strict accordance with the law. They cite an article stating: "If a judge is detained because he was caught in the act of committing an intentional crime or if, owing to the nature of the act committed by the judge, the authority of the court or the essential interests of the service require his immediate suspension from duty, the chairman of the court or the minister of justice may order the immediate suspension of the judge from duty until the disciplinary court issues a relevant decision, but for no more than one month."
The chairman and his deputy were accused of making it impossible to convene a General Assembly of the Constitutional Tribunal with the participation of all judges duly elected by parliament, as well as the appointment of panels hearing cases in the Constitutional Tribunal. Prosecutor General Waldemar Zurek on Friday filed five motions with the Constitutional Tribunal to waive immunity. Four of them concerned consent to hold Swieczkowski, "acting chairman of the Constitutional Tribunal," accountable, and one concerned stripping Sochanski of immunity.
These arguments did not convince Nawrocki's supporters. Protesters, including Law and Justice (PiS) party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Development Plus party leader Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as leaders of Confederation and the Confederation of the Polish Crown, including Deputy Speaker of Parliament Krzysztof Bosak, gathered outside the court building. They tried to bring Swieczkowski inside, but police did not allow this.
Nawrocki, who was already halfway to Senegal, returned to Warsaw. Late in the evening he received Swieczkowski at the presidential palace.
Korwin-Piotrowska said that the Constitutional Tribunal currently has "only seven judges" (including herself). According to her, on November 3 a general assembly of the Constitutional Tribunal will be held to approve the agency's budget for 2027.
She also called on all politicians, including Nawrocki, "to calm down in this escalation, not to call, as we have heard, for the mobilization of the country's armed forces, because decisions by force are a catastrophe for building society and mutual understanding." And she added: if Nawrocki invites to the presidential palace the five judges of the Constitutional Tribunal whose oaths he has not yet accepted, they will come there "without the slightest hesitation."
Prime Minister Donald Tusk stressed: "Restoring the rule of law is our duty. <...> After many years of lawlessness on the part of the PiS party, this is a complex, at times painful process requiring decisive action. There is no other way."
According to Speaker of Parliament Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, who represents Tusk's Civic Platform party, the events of Friday marked "the end of the PiS party's political influence on the Constitutional Tribunal."
Recall that Nawrocki's party was in power from 2015 to 2023. In 2015 it took the tribunal under full control and maintained it until recently. The tribunal reviews the legality of all normative acts adopted in the country, which allowed PiS to counter the government and the ruling coalition in parliament. In addition, the president has the right of veto, which makes the opposition party even more influential.
Tusk long tried to avoid a direct clash. When the ruling coalition elected eight judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, Nawrocki approved only three, and vetoed the candidacies of the others, including Berek, Korwin-Piotrowska and Taborowski. They nevertheless took the oath in parliament, using the phrase "before the president," but Nawrocki and Swieczkowski did not recognize them as judges.
Vadim Trukhachev, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of Russia, believes that this long-standing internal dispute will not affect either Poland's foreign or domestic policy. In essence, what we have before us is "a rather mediocre-tasting candy wrapped in beautiful packaging."
"The problem of the Constitutional Tribunal arose under the previous president, Andrzej Duda. He changed the procedure for appointing judges, effectively subordinating them to the ministry of justice and thereby violating the principle of separation of powers. For this the European Union fined Poland. Tusk, coming to power, promised to fulfill the EU's requirement and restore everything as it was. But Poles decided that Civic Platform needed a counterweight in the person of PiS and elected Nawrocki president. He began to slow down Tusk's reform and look for an opportunity to dissolve parliament and return his party to sole rule," the political scientist noted.
The situation will not be resolved at least until the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2027, Trukhachev believes. The president will accuse Tusk of seizing the Constitutional Tribunal, while the prime minister will explain it as restoring legality and justice.